The Images That Make Us: 'Woman Life Freedom' In Iran

In our newest column, The Images That Make Us, writer, founder and CEO of MTArt Agency, Marine Tanguy, selects a painting, sculpture, or photograph, and responds to its creative and cultural moment and importance in how it shapes us as individuals. Next up, ‘Woman Life Freedom’ in Iran.

On 3 November 2024 at 10:45am, an Iranian woman, Ahoo Daryaei, is arrested after she stripped partially naked on a university campus, reportedly in protest against the strict dress code, after she was physically harassed by security officers for wearing her hijab incorrectly, according to Amnesty Iran. ‘Courage’, ‘strength’ but also ‘resignation’ towards the current regime are the three words that come to mind. She is risking the death penalty.

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Image: @yasemin_goksu_official

By chance, a few students film the scene, hidden from a window overlooking the street where she is walking around in her underwear. These students are also taking risks by filming this scene, as it is forbidden to film and share such visual content in Iran: they know that if this scene goes viral, it’s yet another message sent to the rest of the world to show that disagreement – and protests – exist against The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

After a long start to the year, where some may be wondering whether or not to stay on social media, this scene shows that absolutely we have to. Whether we like it or not, the visual forum we evolve in is our democratic forum, and some are risking their lives to have the chance – or the right, may I say – for their voice to be heard using images.

This image of Ahoo has a strong currency in our social media world: within 24 hours it became a visual symbol, she was turned into various cartoons and was seen on the cover of newspapers. Her very own body, the body that she was told to hide, triggered yet another ripple against the censorship in her country. Google never erases images, hers will stay forever.

Visual data is very challenging to control under dictatorship. These images cannot be erased by the government once shared internationally, and they carry much deeper meaning than a verbal witness. The current Iranian government is scared of these images – so please look at them and share them. Twenty years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that an image of a woman on her own, protesting using her body, could be scarier to the Iranian government than guns. Yet, here we are: we have entered this visual battlefield since the rise of social media in censored countries around the world.

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Credit: Elle France, November 2024 https://www.instagram.com/p/DCbYDeAOUHS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

We have seen many images of Iranian women during the movement ‘Woman Life Freedom’ – women removing their hijab, men wearing them to support these women. These images costs lives – brutal aggressions against these women and their families – but they exist and you cannot look away.

In this attention economy that I fight against daily, these are the images that are worth sharing, giving a voice to and paying attention to. Your images do not cost you much; for many women, they are willing to give everything they have, including their lives, for an image. The power of the visual currency is immense.

As always, the answer from the government was that she was ‘crazy’ and most of the traditional media in Iran didn’t share this image. This student is ‘receiving treatment’. “Instead of viewing this issue under a security lens, we are rather looking at it with a social lens and seek to solve the problems of this student as a troubled individual,” said government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani.

I don’t believe she is mad, she is a mother of two kids and leveraged all she had: her image in a time where that’s very valuable. She entered the war of images, a battle where women wish to be sole owner of their bodies and visually depict themselves freely. In one image, it’s a call for women’s rights and autonomy. Women should have the freedom to choose their own way of dressing, living, and participating in society. I hope you see all of this in her image.